


Your Favorite Drug

by LastofMe



Series: Comparing Your Past To My Future [3]
Category: Doctor Who (2005), Fall Out Boy
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-12
Updated: 2015-08-12
Packaged: 2018-04-14 06:31:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4554351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LastofMe/pseuds/LastofMe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Joe finds the glue holding the band together with the help of a trip through time and space.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Your Favorite Drug

Joe huddled in the sheltered corner of the motel, trying to keep his lighter from being blown out by the wind. This was the only time he disliked the band rule of smoking outside of the range of Andy’s lungs. He liked the solitude and the quiet as he had his smoke. Tonight he was indulging in a small bowl of weed he had been able to score earlier that day. He was too focused on his faulty lighter to hear the footsteps behind him.

“Let me help,” Pete wrapped his hands around Joe’s hiding more of the bowl from the wind. The little flame grew between their efforts. Pete pulled out a cigarette from his sleeve,

“I’m indulging too.”

“I’ll share,” Joe offered.

“Nah, I’m fine.”

They were silent as the sun continued to set and was replaced by an inky black night.

“So Andy’s story huh?” Pete began. Andy had told them how he had suddenly ended up on their balcony a few weeks ago during one of Patrick’s showers.

“I swear that tattoo of his can move, dude. I thought I saw it peeking out of his shirt at breakfast. But I’d certainly like a visit to whomever filled it in. It shimmers haven’t you noticed?”

Pete took a deep drag on his cigarette, “So I’m not the only one who thinks we didn’t get the whole story. I don’t think I like that Doctor guy. I mean, he shows up and Patrick’s happier than I’ve seen him in weeks. He leaves and Patrick gets all wistful. He grabs Andy in the middle of the night, scares us all half to death, won’t see Patrick. His guitar is going to rust if he keeps sniffling.”

“Well at least he has Andy to fuck.”

“What?! No way!... Can you prove it?”

“Can you disprove it?” Pete shook his head and sighed. “Andy’s hooked his games up and Patrick’s picking at his guitar. They aren’t going to notice we’re gone for a while.”

“Is Patrick doing that thing where he rocks Andy’s chair in time to the song he’s working on?” Joe took another hit on his pipe.

“Mhmmm.”

Pete’s nicotine lips were an interesting contrast to the taste of the weed and Joe wrapped his spare arm around his secret sometimes lover’s back. Both of them had dated women, but on lonely and quiet nights they preferred each other’s company. Sometimes when he was very upset, all Joe wanted was to lay in Pete’s lap having his hair petted while the two of them teased out lyrics or chords.

A booming voice rang out in the courtyard, “Pete, come get your shit out of the microwave. We are not repeating Columbus.”

“Apparently I need to go get my Bagel Bites out from under Father Andy’s nose. Why does he hate them so much? I’ll be right back.”

Joe sighed as Pete jogged away, enjoying the view. He felt a hand on his shoulder and his stomach flipped again. He had no time to react as he felt himself being flipped around and through the door to the TARDIS which immediately roared to life.

“Where are you taking me?”

“What? You don’t want to have an adventure?” The Doctor laughed.

“But Pete and I were… Pete’s going to see that I’m not there and Patrick’s going to flip out again. Don’t you care about Patrick anymore?”

Turning to face the console, the Doctor replied softly, “Yes I care about Patrick very much,” he picked his head up, sounding brighter, “But if it wasn’t for you, my Patrick wouldn’t be where he is today. So to express my near eternal gratitude, I’m taking you on an adventure!”

“What if I don’t…”

“Too late!” The Doctor clapped his hands with glee, “We’re already here and besides I think you’re the one who can best appreciate this place!” He flung the doors open. The warm, sweet smell hit Joe like a tidal wave. Walking into the warm sun, he looked around amazed at the lush landscape of rows upon rows of marijuana plants. He walked slowly, looking in every direction except the one he was going.

Which is why he suddenly found himself sitting in the rich dirt staring at the person he had bumped heads with. They stood up and brushed themselves off, the dirt plainly visible in the short cream colored fur. Joe thought of a housecat that could walk on two legs, but this feline like figure was well over six feet tall. It had a small leather shoulder bag and a little pair of clippers on its belt. It pulled its tail around and tisked to itself as one claw dug dirt out of a brass tail ring.

“I’m… I’m sorry I didn’t see you there. I only just got here. I’m here with the Doctor if that matters. And I’m Joe.” He extended his hand nervously.

The feline examined him closely, nostrils flaring slightly before breaking into a gentle smile. “I am Mirth and any friend of the Doctor is welcome here on Reverie. I greet you with warmth on behalf of my people.” Mirth took Joe’s hand in hir own, hir claws pressing ever so slightly against Joe’s skin and brought it to hir’s lips to kiss. Ze looked up at Joe intently and Joe had a sudden flashback to Dallas. Pete had walked into the room with such intensity in his eyes that Joe had melted into his arms. Andy and Patrick had been in the next room over and thankfully neither of them had commented on the hitch in Joe’s walk the next morning.

Mirth continued, “What’s the glorious smell in your pocket? It smells very similar to Lady Love-Me, but something is different.”

Joe pulled the pipe with its slightly smoldering ash out of the pocket he had jammed it in upon being grabbed.

Mirth turned it over in hir paws. “How very odd, I don’t think I’ve actually seen anyone use our plants dried before.”

“Your plants? Where I’m from this is just called weed most of the time. What is Lady Love-Me?”

“A strain that we sent away a few years ago, named after its creator as they all are. Your planet has changed it a bit, but the base notes are still there.”

“A few years?” Joe turned back to the Doctor. “What if I told you that time wasn’t linear or the same in all places?”

“That… that actually makes a lot of sense. Thank you.” He turned back to Mirth. “So Lady Love-Me was invented by a woman?”

Mirth looked confused, “What is woman?”

“You know the whole giving birth and caring for babies thing?”

“Oh. Here anyone can have a kit if they take the right herb. Both of my parents birthed one kit and we raise them in community. Lady Love-Me is just hir name. I am Mirthful Memory if you want to be precise. And this,” ze gestured, “is my first row of my own herb.”

It was a pretty little plant with broad leaves that had just a tinge of color on the outside. Joe felt a smile coming over his face as he stroked the leaves. He felt warm inside and a little sad. Suddenly vivid in his mind was the sound of Pete’s laugh, husky with desire in his ear, then he heard the sound of his guitar and something about a shy boy on the other side of the book shelf. He looked over at Mirth, confused, “I’m remembering things that make me happy all of a sudden.”

Mirth broke into a huge smile, “Then it is working! I wanted to make a strain that would always remind people of their happiest times. But memory is fickle so quartering in Heartseeker was an excellent decision it seems.” Ze looked over Joe’s head, “Doctor, what do you see?”

The Doctor was also kneeling in the dirt holding a little leaf tenderly. “Fixed points in time. Unchangeable things. But one, just one that I could change for the better.” Joe thought he saw the Doctor wipe a tear away as he stood up. “But Joe, I have a few other things I want to show you when you’re ready.”

Mirth spoke up again, “Doctor, you are not the only one who knows how times moves forward and back. My people have seen time at all its ends and we know your sorrow. Your time however is endless.”

The Doctor nodded but remained silent, lost in his thoughts. Joe was still curious.

“What does Lady Love-Me do?”

“It makes the user feel affectionate to those around them. It appears that its isolation on Earth and the drying process have some effect on its abilities, but the main effect is still present.” Ze pulled a little spade and a pot from hir bag and began to dig around a plant. Patting it carefully into place, Mirth placed the pot in Joe’s stunned hands. Ze reached back into hir bags for another small pot containing a different plant. This one was straight and tall with broad leaves and little white flowers in the buds. “The first is my gift to you, Joseph that you may always keep your memories close and remind others of theirs. The second plant is the only one of its kind and when I saw it bloom this morning, I knew that its keeper must be close. Its name has been passed down through our history as Joseph’s Joy and therefore it must go with you too.”

Joe shifted the two little pots in his hands and Joy’s leaf brushed against his cheek. Suddenly he was overwhelmed by such a warm, happy feeling, better than anything he had ever felt before, but still familiar to him. “Thank you, Mirth. I…I think I really needed this.”

Mirth bent over to kiss him on the crown of his head and reached into hir bag one more time to pull out a little leather pouch on a string. Ze snapped off a leaf of each plant and placed them inside before putting it around Joe’s neck, “The pleasure has been mine, Joseph. The Doctor is correct, you do have a ways to travel, but please come back and visit again. The rules on your planet are must unusual but I think this will not be detected by your authorities.”

Joe boarded the TARDIS with a spring in his step. “So Doc, where are we off to now?”

The Doctor seemed cheered as he replied, “What was the last memory you had with you touched Mirth’s plant?”

“The time I met Patrick when he worked at the bookstore.”

“Sounds good to me!” When the TARDIS stopped again, the Doctor grabbed Joe’s arm before he ran off. “Listen very carefully, what we’re about to do is actually very dangerous. This is a fixed point in time and we both belong here and don’t belong here. Follow my lead carefully.”

They stepped out into the backroom of the bookstore and slipped out on the sales floor. Joe caught a brief glimpse of a much younger Patrick in his work apron, straightening the shelves before the Doctor pulled him into the philosophy section. Peeking through the books, Joe almost gasped when he saw his younger self pause two rows away and wait for Patrick to come into aisle opposite him.

“Hey you’re Patrick Stump right?” asked young Joe.

“Yeah, you’re Joe Trohman right? Is there something I can help you find?” Joe smiled, remembering how hard Patrick had to try to be helpful when he was shy.

“No actually I was looking for you. Listen, my friends and I are starting a band. You’ve heard of Pete Wentz, right? We were talking about the kind of people we were looking for and I remembered that time I was in here and you really helped me out. You still play guitar too right? It’ll be fun!”

Patrick looked down, “I… I don’t know. I don’t think I’m good enough to be in a band. I’m sorry.”

Joe almost leapt to his feet but the Doctor pulled him back down. “He doesn’t say no! I mean he said he wasn’t good enough but that he still wanted to try…” Joe felt the pouch hit his chest and realized what he had to do. Pulling the leaf of Joy and a lighter out of their pockets he lit the little plant on fire and began to blow the smoke toward Patrick.

The young man stopped and turned around, “But I suppose I could try. I mean I’ve always wanted to be in a band. It might be really fun.”

“Sure it will be! Here’s my address! We’re going to meet Thursday afternoon if you can.”

“Yeah I can be there.”

Joe was just as happy as his younger self as they boarded the TARDIS. “I got Patrick to join the band again! So wait, we were there the whole time?”

“Wibbly, wobbly, time stuff.”

“Ok, I also remembered hearing my guitar, but I hear that all the time.”

“Don’t worry,” said the Doctor, “This one I know. When the TARDIS stops, don’t walk all the way out.”

Joe found himself looking into the window of a dark apartment. The couch was turned away from the window, facing a television that was idly flipping channels. The phone sitting on the far end of the couch rang and the figure sat all the way up and Joe saw another version of himself for the second time that day.

“Oh no, I know this…”

A tentative voice came over the phone’s speaker, “Joe? This is Patrick. The guys and I have been talking… and we’d like to get the bad back together. I want you to be there with us…”

“So you call me in the middle of the night!?” growled Couch Joe.

“No no no!” mumbled Out the Window Joe as he pulled the leaf of Mirthful Memories out of the pouch and began fanning its smoke into the apartment as hard as he could. Couch Joe sighed and walked over to his closet, pulling out his Fall Out Boy guitar for the first time in months.

“Ok Patrick tell me all about it…” Joe ran back to the Doctor, “And I got myself back into the band!?”

The Doctor smiled, both happy and sad in his expression. “And the last memory?”

Joe blushed to his roots, “Dallas.”

A few minutes later, he stood blinking in the hot Texas sun. He (well yet another version of himself) was helping Andy and Patrick carry their bags into the hotel. Pete called to the group.

“Hey! I just have to take this call real quick, I’ll be right in!” He ducked down the alley and Joe felt compelled to follow him, ducking behind a dumpster. Pete’s mood changed drastically, “What the hell? I thought I meant something to you! I thought this meant something to you! This band means everything to me and I’m not leaving it for someone like you! Fuck you too!”

He slammed the phone shut and sat down with his head in his hands. He pulled a prescription bottle out of his pocket and Joe remembered what else had been going on at this time in Pete’s life. Working quickly, he pulled out the remains of both leaves and set them on fire waving the smoke as quickly as he could until he saw Pete relax, put the pills away and begin to cry.

Joe was about to go over to him, when the Doctor pulled on his arm, “He’ll come to you remember?”

The ache in Joe’s chest widened, “Yes, he will. I’ve been here the whole time and even when I thought I was just being the silly one; I was holding some of my favorite people together. We need each other.”

“Come on then. It’s time to go home.”

Joe stepped out of the TARDIS for the last time that day holding his plants into the shadows he had been pulled into to start. Pete’s frantic voice told him something was wrong.

“JOE! JOE! WHERE ARE YOU?!”

He ran toward the lights where Pete was running around and yelling and Patrick and Andy were just coming out of the door of their room.

“What’s wrong Pete?” called Patrick.

“JOE WAS JUST HERE AND NOW HE’S GONE!”

“Pete!” Joe stepped into the light and ran toward his friends. He was nearly run over by Patrick, who was sprinting into the shadows with his silver pen clutched tight.

“Please wait!” Patrick gasped as Andy sprinted after him into the dark.

Pete’s hug brought both him and Joe to the ground and the little pots bounced as Joe dropped them to grab onto his lover. Pete touched his forehead to Joe’s. “I don’t know what I would do if you weren’t here with me. I need you…” “I need you too…” whispered Joe. They gathered themselves and the plants up as they walked back to their room, hand in hand.


End file.
